Bound to Billionaires (Doms of Destiny, Colorado 2)

Phoebe leaned forward and pointed her index finger at him. “I already told her you would settle for three months. Don?

?t push me, Eric Knight.”

He looked annoyed with the attorney. “Okay. Three months, Megan. Will you do it?”

“I’m not sure about this. If you think I’m in danger, you must know I’m innocent. Why not just drop the lawsuit and be done with this mess once and for all?”

He leaned in. “Because I’m not done with you, Megan Lunceford.” His tone was throaty. “Be honest with us, you’re completely broke, yes?”

That was none of his business. “If I am, what difference does that make to you?”

He slapped the table, causing an electric-like tremble to shoot through her entire body. “A whole helluva lot of difference, baby, is what it means to me.”

“Chill, bro. Don’t be a bastard. You’re scaring her.” Scott leaned forward across the table. “Don’t worry, Megan. You’ll get used to Eric’s argumentative, demanding, and contrary side in time. It’s only a percentage of his larger-than-life character. He can be quite charming and kind when he needs to be. You’ll see.”

She’d seen glimpses of that part of Eric’s supposed character moments ago before heading to the counter to tell Phoebe about their job offer. “That’s why I’m worried about your offer. I’m still a married woman.”

“Let me calm your nerves,” Scott said, though his brother’s face seemed to darken with some internal storm. “We want you here with us until we figure out who was using your IP to hack into our systems. We also want to make sure no one has access to your house.”

“What? My house?” The shock of that statement nearly had her on her knees. “You think Kip might be out already? That he’s been in my home without my knowledge?” That possibility had her shivering with dread.

“Could be.” Scott looked at her two empty plates. One had held her cheeseburger and fries, and the other the delicious pie. “You want more?”

“No. I’m full to the brim,” she said honestly.

Eric touched her elbow, sending a tantalizing shiver through her. “You haven’t been in contact with your husband recently, have you?”

“No. Only a few letters since the FBI removed him five years ago. I’ve tried to find out where they took him but have come up short. I have no idea where he is.”

“Do you care to know?” Eric’s tone made her uncomfortable. Why was he probing her for answers? Did he still suspect her of wrongdoing despite what he’d told Phoebe, despite this get-out-of-lawsuit-free card they were dangling in front of her, despite everything?

Her gut told her the Knights were okay. They could be trusted. Should she tell them that she only wanted to find Kip to serve him annulment papers? She wasn’t sure what the right thing to do was, so she kept that little bit of information to herself. In time, should her intuition about the guys turn out to be correct—though that would be a first for her—she would tell them then. Not until.

“He’s my husband. Of course I want to know where he is.”

Eric’s mouth twisted slightly before he removed his fingertips from her elbow. “Know this, Megan. Whoever is behind the hacking didn’t have to be in your house. They could’ve jumped on your modem wirelessly from a car parked more than a block from it. You don’t need an MIT degree to do that.”

“But having one wouldn’t hurt, would it?” She knew Kip had that degree. Or at least he’d told her he did.

Scott pulled out a pen from his jacket and took one of the white paper napkins from the dispenser on the table. He wrote something on it and slid it over to Eric. “Good?”

“Whatever she wants, bro. Whatever it takes.” Eric pushed it in front of her. “How’s this for your starting salary, Megan? Will this work for you?”

She looked down at the number and her jaw dropped. “I don’t know what you two think I’m willing to do for this, but you better figure out real quick that there are some things I won’t do.”

Phoebe took the napkin and chuckled. “Damn, boys. Billionaires or not, have you lost any sense of what this kind of money means to most people?”

“I don’t understand,” Scott confessed.

Phoebe pushed the napkin back to her. “Talk about overshooting the mark. Any woman with half a brain would be scared out of her mind with this many digits on a napkin. Trust me, Megan has more than her fair share of brains.”

“I can’t accept this. It’s unbelievable.”

Eric leaned forward. “Look at me, Megan.”

Unable to resist, she turned to him and gazed into his blue eyes.

“Being our personal assistant doesn’t mean we expect anything you don’t want to do. Whatever limits you have we will respect. It’s a job. Plain and simple. You want the truth. We believe you are in danger. Someone with knowhow got through the best cyber security systems in the world to get to our code, code that would garner a small fortune from certain interested parties. Having you by our side will help us find them. You are safe and our code is protected. Win-win.”